- Guatemala City, Guatemala
Arturo Matute
Universidad del Valle de Guatemala, Anthropology and Sociology, Department Member
Research Interests: Political Science, Democratization, Police, Human Security, Crime Prevention, and 15 morePrevention, Reform, Police Reform, Latin America, Guatemala, Criminality, Security Sector, Community participation and engagement, Lateinamerika, Prävention, Visual Anthropology and Sociology, Polizei, Community Oriented Policing, Crime Fighting, and Kriminalität
Research Interests: Human Rights, Educational Development, Political Science, Migration, Politics, and 15 moreSocial Justice, Organized Crime, Health, El Salvador, Employment, Social Inequality, Guatemala, Corruption, Sex Education, Legislation, Regional Disparity, Access to Education, Environment, Universidad del Valle de Guatemala, and economic disparity
The paper describes the process of security sector reform in Guatemala with reference to the efforts to implement community-based policing practices. The results point to the difficulties of shaking-off public understandings of security... more
The paper describes the process of security sector reform in Guatemala with reference to the efforts to implement community-based policing practices. The results point to the difficulties of shaking-off public understandings of security honed during the armed conflict and underscore the efforts of a still young police institution to position itself in a democratic context. The study posits that community-oriented policing strategies open opportunities to forward police reform in the high-violence, low-trust, weak-institutions, and post-conflict context of Guatemala. The argument is supported by field data gathered in indigenous territories in the Western Highlands, where traditional forms of social organization persist, and in metropolitan Villa Canales municipality, an urban, high-violence site of research.